Peace In Their Time

Episode 139 - Into the Abyss, Part III

After years of scheming, Schleicher had gained the Chancellorship, but it turned out that his government was DOA. All his enemies came together against him, paving the way for Hitler to gain the power he had been demanding for years. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
3. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
4. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
5. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018
6. Barth, Rudiger and Hauke Friederichs The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic Pegasus Books 2021

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 138 - Into the Abyss, Part II

The conspiracies and backstabbing roll on in the back half of 1932, and patience started wearing thin. Nobody in the establishment could force a settlement, and Hitler refused to cut a deal. But despite dissent in the NSDAP, Hitler stood firm in his demand for a government on his terms. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
3. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
4. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
5. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 137 - Into the Abyss, Part I

With the economy destroyed and the specter of privation and revolution haunting Germany, Hitler's political star was ascendant. Despite not being able to clench a majority of votes or convince (or want) anyone else to work with the Nazis, Hitler was an inescapable part of the nation's politics. Which meant that the conservative establishment bent on dissolving the country's democracy would be forced little by little to work with the manic upstart. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
3. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
4. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
5. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 136 - The Wheels Start Coming Off

The aftershocks of the September 1930 election were felt immediately in Germany, and the Reichstag was left paralyzed. It was left to Chancellor Bruning to govern by decree, and in the depths of the Great Depression, that meant taking unprecedented steps to combat the crisis. The efforts wouldn't matter though, as Hitler was right there to exploit the continued economic collapse to bring himself ever-closer to power. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Peukert, Detlev The Weimar Republic Suhrkamp Verlag am Main, 1987
3. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
4. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
5. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
6. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 135 - Here Come the Nazis

As the Depression got going in Germany, the Nazis were a fringe party with barely any national representation. Long story short, they weren't expected to be big players in Chancellor Bruning's constitutional crisis. But for years the Nazis had been carefully laying the groundwork for bigger ambitions, and after a few couple hiccups, were ready to make it big in the September 1930 elections. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Peukert, Detlev The Weimar Republic Suhrkamp Verlag am Main, 1987
3. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
4. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
5. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
6. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 134 - All According to Plan

The Weimar Republic was not a state built to last, and the Depression was a deathblow to it. Not only was the suffering bad enough, but conservative politicians saw it as their window to do away with democracy entirely. This would lead to outcomes they failed to predict, and within just a few years Germany would be unrecognizable compared to what it was before the start of the crisis. Took me a while to get to this point, but the rise of the Nazis begins here. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

 

1. Evans, Richard The Coming of the Third Reich Penguin Books, 2003
2. Peukert, Detlev The Weimar Republic Suhrkamp Verlag am Main, 1987
3. Kershaw, Ian Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris W.W. Norton & Company, Inc 1998
4. Toland, John Adolf Hitler, Volume 1 Doubleday & Company Inc 1976
5. Range, Peter Ross The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power Little, Brown and Company 2020
6. Hett, Benjamin Carter The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic St. Martin's Press 2018

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 133 - Germans in the Belfry

The mini-tour of Central Europe ends this week, and I take a look at Czechoslovakia and Poland. Nations that shared no small number of problems, and each in their own way failed to address them. For Czechoslovakia it was being unable to get their German minority to stop making eyes across the border, and for Poland it was being unable to stabilize their government enough to even begin making accommodations with their own ethnic minorities. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998
2. Crowhurst, Patrick A History of Czechoslovakia Between the Wars: From Versailles to Hitler's Invasion I.B. Tauris 2015
3. Davies, Norman God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume II Columbia University Press 2005
4. Kochanski, Halik The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War Penguin Books Ltd 2012
5. Leslie, R.F. The History of Poland Since 1863 Cambridge University Press 1980
6. Chu, Winson The German Minority in Interwar Poland Cambridge University Press 2012
7. Prazmowska, Anita Poland: A Modern History Palgrave Macmillan 2010
8. Stachura, Peter D. Poland, 1918-1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic Routledge 2004

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 132 - Sore Winners

Romania was a nation better situated than most by 1929. It hadn't suffered from devastating civil conflict, there had been no political collapse, and its frontiers were reflective of the dreams of every nationalist. And of course, there's a significant "but" to that statement. Corruption was rife, the people didn't really benefit much from the swank new borders, and a local brand of fascism was on the rise. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998
2. Nagy-Talavera, Nicholas M The Green Shirts and the Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania Histria Books 2021
3. Hitchins, Keith A Concise History of Romania Cambridge University Press 2014
4. Glenny, Misha The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers 1804-1999 Penguin Books Ltd 1999

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 131 - Brown Danube

The rise of fascism in Hungary proceeded in fits and starts during the 30s, primarily due to there not being a formidable Left in the country's politics to rage against. But the Depression hit the country severely enough that the establishment was badly discredited, and the men who had crushed the Left in 1919 and the early 20s were still around to sink their hooks into the state. On top of that, a new generation of fascists arose to push the nation into ever more extreme directions. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998
2. Nagy-Talavera, Nicholas M The Green Shirts and the Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania Histria Books 2021
3. Hoensch, Jorg A History of Modern Hungary 1867-1994 Longman Group Ltd 1996

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com

Episode 130 - Mountain Fascists

Because of Austria's central position in Europe and close ties to Germany, its importance was all out of proportion to its size. Which is why the rise of fascism during the Depression is so important to the course of later events. The country found itself between proponents of pan-Germanism and those who favored an independent course, both of which had their own authoritarian visions. And each camp invited foreign influence into the country. 

 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Berend, Ivan Decades of Crisis: Central and Eastern Europe Before World War II University of California Press 1998
2. Emondson, C. Earl The Heimwehr and Austrian Politics, 1918-1936 The University of Georgia Press 1978
3. Beller, Steven A Concise History of Austria Cambridge University Press 2007

 

Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com